A cutting tool has a surface of a base that is covered by a coating layer made of a sintered alloy such as a cemented carbide, and a cermet, a high-hardness sintered body such as a diamond or cBN (cubic boron nitride), and a ceramics such as aluminum oxide, silicon nitride, and the like, used as a means of improving the wear resistance and fracture resistance.
In addition, research into coating layers made of TiAlN and the like is actively ongoing. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a cover film (coating layer) in which a columnar crystal on a second layer of a coating layer made of TiAlN and having two stacked layers has been grown in a direction inclined at an angle of, on average, from 1° to 15° with respect to a direction orthogonal to a surface of a base.